NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis Final Landing Photos

After a 26-year career and 307 days spent in space, shuttle Atlantis touched down for the last time at approximately 5:57 am Eastern. It landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The shuttle is on its last mission to space after nearly 26 years in service. It is also the last mission for NASA's space shuttle program.

Atlantis delivered to the International Space Station, a $100-billion project of 16 nations that circles 220 miles above Earth, the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), which is an experiment designed to demonstrate and test the tools, technologies and techniques needed to robotically refuel satellites in space, even satellites not designed to be serviced.

The mission was approximately 12 days long. The crew members for space shuttle Atlantis STS-135 mission are Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley, and Mission Specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.

The flight is Atlantis’s 33rd since a maiden voyage in 1985. As of the completion of its last flight, Atlantis has orbited the earth more than 4,848 times and has traveled more than 125 million miles over the course of 33 missions.

The Atlantis is the last of the three shuttle craft to finish up. NASA's oldest and most travelled spacecraft Discovery made its final voyage into space in February and its youngest shuttle Endeavour made its final voyage into space in May.

The shuttles are being retired as NASA is winding down its space shuttle operations this summer due to high operating costs and to free up funds to develop new spaceships that can travel beyond the station's 220-mile-high orbit.

Take a glimpse of the landing photos of space shuttle Atlantis:

The space shuttle Atlantis makes a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Reuters

The space shuttle Atlantis makes a night landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.Reuters

A white Fiat van rammed into pedestrians outside enjoying a late afternoon stroll on Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday killing at least 13 people and leaving hundreds injured. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.